You might stumble upon it scrolling through social media – a truly absurd video. It’s a cat, dressed in a shark costume, nonchalantly riding a Roomba. At first glance, it’s pure internet silliness, a prime example of the kind of content that goes viral for its sheer ridiculousness. But this “Shark Cat” video is more than just a fleeting chuckle; it’s a bizarre yet insightful indicator of the immense wealth that characterizes modern societies, particularly in places like America.
This seemingly pointless spectacle of a cat in a shark suit on a robotic vacuum cleaner actually underscores a profound truth about our current economic reality. As economist Don Boudreaux eloquently points out, we are often “fooled into forgetting” just how extraordinarily prosperous even ordinary lives are today. We take for granted the readily available clean clothes, solid housing, and freedom from the constant threat of starvation that plagued our ancestors. Instead, we often fixate on wealth disparities, overlooking the fact that even the average person today enjoys a material standard of living far surpassing that of historical figures like Cleopatra or even titans of industry like J.D. Rockefeller.
Alt text: A cat wearing a shark costume calmly sits atop a Roomba vacuum cleaner in a modern kitchen, illustrating the concept of ‘shark cat’ and modern wealth.
The key takeaway is that the present era is an anomaly in human history. The sustained and significant rise in living standards over the past couple of centuries is unprecedented. This remarkable achievement, as Alberto Mingardi highlights, stems from the dynamic nature of market economies. Markets constantly redefine “what” goods and services are through innovation and consumer feedback. Consider the evolution from the Motorola DynaTAC to the smartphone. While seemingly a linear progression of improvement, it’s actually a radical redefinition of communication itself. The engineers behind the DynaTAC weren’t simply striving for an iPhone; the market, driven by innovation and consumer demand, shaped the very concept of mobile communication in unforeseen ways.
This constant reinvention, this “genius of capitalism,” is evident even in seemingly trivial things – and yes, even in shark cat videos. Having lived in various countries, the kitchen in the background of the viral video, seemingly unremarkable, speaks volumes. It’s a standard American kitchen, not extravagant, but equipped and spacious to a degree that is often exceptional globally, even in many “rich” nations. It’s a far cry from kitchens in middle-income or poorer regions.
Then there’s the Roomba itself. Barely a decade ago, self-guiding vacuum cleaners were futuristic fantasies. Now, they’re commonplace enough to be used as a comical transportation device for a pet. And let’s not forget the shark costume. The very idea of readily available, mass-produced fancy dress outfits for cats, costing mere dollars, is a testament to our affluence. Previous generations might have dressed pets in doll clothes out of necessity, but the mass production of whimsical pet costumes for sheer amusement is a distinctly modern phenomenon. Finally, the technology that allows this fleeting moment of feline absurdity to be filmed, uploaded, and globally shared is itself a marvel of our time.
Alt text: Close-up of a shark cat, a cat humorously dressed in a shark costume riding a Roomba, emphasizing the ‘shark cat’ keyword and lighthearted tone.
Interestingly, much of the wealth represented by the shark cat video isn’t directly reflected in GDP figures. The kitchen, Roomba, and shark suit contribute to GDP through their purchase prices. However, the intangible aspects – the humor, the internet sharing, the sheer entertainment value – are largely unquantified. The pleasure, amusement, or even bewilderment derived from watching a shark cat video on YouTube is not directly measured in economic statistics, even though it undeniably contributes to our quality of life. Even the act of watching this video, potentially with ads served in different languages depending on the viewer’s location, highlights the globalized and complex nature of modern digital economies.
While some might dismiss shark costumes for cats as frivolous and robot vacuum cleaners as unnecessary luxuries, this perspective misses the larger point. No generation before us, and indeed, a significant portion of the world’s population today, has had the opportunity to witness such a bizarre and readily accessible spectacle as a cat in a shark suit riding a Roomba, available freely online. Perhaps recent economic dips have obscured our perception of our own prosperity. But by any objective historical standard, and in comparison to much of the world today, the shark cat video, in its utter ridiculousness, serves as a potent, if humorous, reminder of just how staggeringly wealthy we truly are.
